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Aircraft Structures

Unit Code: HES2930




Duration

Contact Hours

Campus

Prerequisite

Corequisite


One Semester

48 hours (4 hours per week)

Hawthorn

Nil

Nil

Credit Points: 12.5 Credit Points

Related Course/s:

A unit of study in the Bachelor of Aviation, Bachelor of Aviation (Management), Bachelor of Aviation/ Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Aviation (Management)/ Bachelor of Commerce

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Aims & Objectives:

To provide students with an introduction to the strength of materials and their behaviour as loaded members in aircraft structures. Corrosion and fatigue is also addressed in the context of an aging general aviation aircraft fleet.
 
At the successful completion of this unit students should be able to;
  • describe and apply static equilibrium to 2D problems,
  • describe aircraft structural members and materials and the method in which aircraft structures react load,
  • describe the detrimental effects of corrosion and fatigue and how this is managed in aircraft fleets.

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Teaching Methods:

Classroom based with online Blackboard support.

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Assessment:

Examination (Worth 60%)
Assignments (Worth 40%).

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Generic Skills Outcomes:

  • analysis skills,
  • problem solving skills,
  • ability to tackle unfamiliar problems, and
  • ability to work independently.

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Content:

Structural loading; aerodynamic and inertia
Load analysis
Structurally determinate struts, ties, beams, shafts and simple frames
Shear force, axial force, torque and bending moment diagrams
Stress and strain
Normal stress, average shear stress, bending stress and shear stress due to torque, Young’s Modulus, strain.
Euler buckling of slender pin jointed columns
Yield stress and ultimate stress
 
Safety factors
Limit, proof and ultimate load

Introduction to aircraft materials
Aluminum alloys, steel alloys, advanced composites

Metal corrosion
Causes, time dependent, time related and time independent, common areas of corrosion in aircraft structures, methods of protection

Fatigue
The mechanism of fatigue, manoeuvre and gust load spectra, stress concentrations, crack propagation. Fatigue life determination and fatigue test methods. Safe Life and Fail safe philosophies.

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Textbooks:

 
Nil

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References:

Bruhn, E.F., Analysis and Design of Flight Vehicle Structures, S.R. Jacobs, 1973.
Hall, A.S., An Introduction to the Mechanics of Solids, 2nd edn., Wiley, 1973
Meriam, J., Kraige, L., Engineering Mechanics: Statics, 6th edn., John Wiley Sons, 2006.
Roark, R.J., Roark’s Formulas for Stress and Strain, 7th edn., McGraw-Hill., 2001
Jastrzebski, Z.D., The Nature and Properties of Engineering Materials, 3rd edn., Wiley, 1987
Middleton, D., Composite Materials in Aircraft Structures.
Hoskin, B.C., Baker, A.A., (Eds.), Composite Materials for Aircraft Structures, 2nd edn., AIAA, 2004.
Anon., Aircraft Corrosion Control, EA-CC-1. IAP Inc.

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